Two pocketed ball game table with divider



April 1967 P. E. WIEDERSPAN 3,315,965

, TWO POCKETED BALL GAME TABLE WITH DIVIDER Filed Feb. 1, 1965 INVENTOR. PHYLLIS E. W/EDERSPAN BY ATTORNEY United States Patent ellaire St., 2

This invention relates to a game of a type in which two players or two teams of players attempt to roll balls by hand into ball-receiving pockets for scoring purposes, and

relates more particularly to a game board or table for use in playing such a game.

The invention comprises an inclined playing table which may be a complete self-supported table or a game board to be supported on a table and which is provided with a raised peripheral edge or wall, against which, balls may be bounced, or banked, and with a ball-receiving pocket or ball-receiving hole, which will be adjacent each of the sides and midway of the length of the table. A players area is designated at each side of the lower end of the table from which the balls are rolled upward-1y on the table. The players area of each player is positioned on the opposite side of the table from the goal pocket of that player. The players proceed at will and each player attempts to roll his balls into his goal pocket and further attempts to deflect the opposing balls from entering the opposite goal pocket.

The principal object of this invention is to provide a game-board or playing table for playing the above game so constructed that neither player can propel or roll his playing pieces or balls directly into his own goal pocket but must bank or bounce them off the peripheral wall of the table or off his opponents playing pieces in order to reach his target goal pocket, and so constructed that the balls or other playing pieces will be automatically collected and visibly aligned before each player for quick scoring purposes.

A further object is to employ matching colors to designate the correspondence betwen the goal pockets and the players areas in the board or table to provide a clearly defined target for each player.

Other objects and advantages reside in the detail construction of the invention, which is designed for simplicity, economy, and eificiency. These will become more apparent from the following description.

In the following detailed description of the invention, reference is made to the accompanying drawing which forms a part hereof. Like numerals refer to like parts in all views of the drawing and throughout the description.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of the improved game board ruled to designate the colors green, red and yellow;

FIG. 2 is a right side elevational view of the game board of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal section thru the board, taken on the line 3-3, FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a cross section thereof, taken on the line 4-4, FIG. 3.

The invention is described and illustrated as a portable game board to be supported upon any suitable table. It could be a complete, self-supported table, per se, of any desired size.

As illustrated, the invention comprises an elongated rectangular, open-topped box having a front end wall 10, a rear end wall 11, a right side wall 12, a left side wall 13 and a closed bottom 14. A sub-bottom or playing board is fitted snugly between the walls and supported above and in parallel relation to the bottom 14 upon a suitable peripheral spacing support 16.

Leg members 17 support the rear extremity of the box in an elevated position so that the bottom 14 and the playing board 15 will incline longitudinally toward the forward extremity thereof. The above elements can be formed of any desired material, for instance, in a portable form they may be formed of heavy cardboard with the leg members 17 cemented to and foldable thereon.

A vertical partition member or divider 18 of less than one-half the length of the box extends downwardly through a medial, longitudinally extending slot 19 in the playing board 15 and is fixedly secured to the bottom 14 and the front end wall 10 in any suitable manner.

The divider 18 terminates at its top substantially in the plane of the tops of the side and end walls and divides the forward portion of the playing board 15 and also the forward portion of the space between the playing board 15 and the bottom 14, each into two equal areas. As illustrated, the areas on the opposite sides of the divider are colored to provide a red players area 20 and a yellow players area 21. The remainder of the board may be uncolored or if desired may be colored to provide a green playing area 22.

An opening, herein designated as the yellow goal pocket 23, is formed through the board 15 adjacent the left side wall 13 and is surrounded by a yellow colored border 24. A similar opening, designated as the red goal pocket 25, surrounded by a red colored border 26, is formed through the playing board 15 adjacent the right side wall 12. The pockets 23 and 25 are transversally aligned with each other forwardly of the rear extremity of the divider 18. An elongated scoring opening 27 is formed through the red playing area 15 parallel to and adjacent the front end wall. A similar scoring opening 28 is similarly positioned in the yellow playing area 21. The game is played through the medium of a plurality of balls, as indicated at 29 in FIG. 1, which may be formed of any suit-able material such as molded plastic. The balls pass freely through the goal pockets 23 and 25 but will not pass through the scoring openings 27.

Any number of balls may be used but must be equally divided between the two players or teams of players at the start of the game. The players roll the balls at will against the walls 11, 12 and 13, the red player endeavoring to place balls in the red goal pocket 25 and the yellow player attempting to place balls in the yellow goal pocket 23. Balls which roll back into either players area can be replayed by the area player. Both players endeavor to strike the other players pieces to prevent entry in the desired pocket. The game continues until all of the balls have reached the scoring openings. As the balls drop through the goal pockets they roll down the bottom 14 and can be counted through the scoring openings 27 and 28, the yellow playing zone count for the red player and the balls in the scoring opening 28 of the red playing zone count for the yellow player.

The divider 18 prevents either player from projecting his balls directly into his scoring goal pocket. The divider also acts to prevent the balls dropping through the goal pockets from becoming intermixed. After scoring, the balls can be retrieved for the next game through return openings 30 in the side walls 12 and 13.

While a specific form of the invention has been de: scribed and illustrated herein, it is to be understood that the same may be varied within the scope of the appended claims, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having thus described the invention what is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A game board comprising:

(a) a flat, rectangular, longitudinally-inclined, playing balls in the scoring opening 27 of the table of greater length than width upon which a ball may be rolled;

(b) a wall peripherally surrounding said table and forming two side walls, a front end wall and a rear end wall thereon for confining said ball to said table;

() a longitudinally inclined lbottom member correspending in size to said table and supported in parallel spaced-relation therebelow.

(d) a single goal pocket opening formed through said table adjacent each side wall thereof the remainder of said table being devoid of pocket openings through which said ball may fall onto said bottom member;

(e) a medially-positioned, longitudinally-extending divider of less length than said table extending upward- 1y from and rearwardly on said table from the front end wall to divide the lower forward portion of said table into two adjacent players areas, each area containing one of said pocket openings, said pocket openings being laterally aligned with each other and being positioned forwardly of the rear extremity of said divider, said divider extending downwardly from said table into contact with said bottom member to divide the forward extremity of the latter into twoadjacent scoring areas each positioned immediately below one of said players areas in which the balls falling through the goal pocket opening of each area will respectively and separately accumulate for scoring purposes.

2. A game table as described in claim 1 having an elongated scoring slot positioned parallel to and adjacent said front wall in each players area through which the balls accumulated in each scoring area will be visible, said scoring slots having a less width than said balls to prevent balls from passing from said table through said slots.

3. A game table as described in claim 2 in which the players areas carry different designations and in which each goal pocket carries a designation corresponding to the designation of the players area on the opposite side of the table.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 497,452 5/1893 Malinowski 273-14 739,254 9/1903 Borland 273 1,320,274 10/1919 Ramsey 273l23 3,174,752 3/1965 Plentis 273l26 RICHARD C. PINKHAM, Primary Examiner.

L. J. BOVASSO, T. ZACK, Assistant Examiners. 

1. A GAME BOARD COMPRISING: (A) A FLAT, RECTANGULAR, LONGITUDINALLY-INCLINED, PLAYING TABLE OF GREATER LENGTH THAN WIDTH UPON WHICH A BALL MAY BE ROLLED; (B) A WALL PERIPHERALLY SURROUNDING SAID TABLE AND FORMING TWO SIDE WALLS, A FRONT END WALL AND A REAR END WALL THEREON FOR CONFINING SAID BALL TO SAID TABLE; (C) A LONGITUDINALLY INCLINED BOTTOM MEMBER CORRESPONDING IN SIZE TO SAID TABLE AND SUPPORTED IN PARALLEL SPACED-RELATION THEREBELOW. (D) A SINGLE GOAL POCKET OPENING FORMED THROUGH SAID TABLE ADJACENT EACH SIDE WALL THEREOF THE REMAINDER OF SAID TABLE BEING DEVOID OF POCKET OPENINGS THROUGH WHICH SAID BALL MAY FALL ONTO SAID BOTTOM MEMBER; (E) A MEDIALLY-POSITIONED, LONGITUDINALLY-EXTENDING DIVIDER OF LESS LENGTH THAN SAID TABLE EXTENDING UPWARDLY FROM AND REARWARDLY ON SAID TABLE FROM THE FRONT END WALL TO DIVIDE THE LOWER FORWARD PORTION OF SAID TABLE INTO TWO ADJACENT PLAYERS'' AREAS, EACH AREA CONTAINING ONE OF SAID POCKET OPENINGS, SAID POCKET OPENINGS BEING LATERALLY ALIGNED WITH EACH OTHER AND BEING POSITIONED FORWARDLY OF THE REAR EXTREMITY OF SAID DIVIDER, SAID DIVIDER EXTENDING DOWNWARDLY FROM SAID TABLE INTO CONTACT WITH SAID BOTTOM MEMBER TO DIVIDE THE FORWARD EXTREMITY OF THE LATTER INTO TWO ADJACENT SCORING AREAS EACH POSITIONED IMMEDIATELY BELOW ONE OF SAID PLAYER''S AREAS IN WHICH THE BALLS FALLING THROUGH THE GOAL POCKET OPENING OF EACH AREA WILL RESPECTIVELY AND SEPARATELY ACCUMULATE FOR SCORING PURPOSES. 